News (most recent first)

Learning and Work Institute is pleased to announce the six pilots for its ‘Positive Career Choices for Young Adult Carers<’ project.

Funded by the Department of Health’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise...

Learning & Work Insitute recently completed a research and consultancy project on addressing barriers to work for disabled people and those with long term health conditions

...

Empowering young people to achieve their potential is crucial in driving inclusive economic growth, productivity and the UK’s prosperity. Join us on 5th December to make real impact. ...

Throughout November, BBC is broadcasting programs as part of Black and British< season aimed at promoting and 'celebrating the achievements of black people in the UK and exploring the rich culture and history of black Britain'.  The season includes a four-part series entitled: ‘Black and British:...

In 2016 the Skills Funding Agency commissions Learning and Work Institute (L&W) and the Behavioural Insights Team to conduct research into using behavioural insights to increase the proportion of successful apprenticeship applicants from BAME backgrounds.

Individuals from Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are currently underrepresented in apprenticeship start rate, making up only 10.6% of all those starting apprenticeship in 2014/15.

The research consists...

Three images of young people in learning situations

At present, looked after children have a 46% attainment rate at Key Stage 3 - compared to the average of all children which is 81%. 40% of 19-year-old care...

Join us for this breakfast webinar to hear Stuart Rimmer, CEO of Great Yarmuth College discuss an Eastern Region Wellbeing...

As part of our WMHD 2016 webinars< series, we will be joined by Ian Ashman, Association of Colleges< president, to consider the role of senior leaders in stemming the rising tide of mental illness among students. This webinar is free and there is no need to register.

When: Monday, 17 October at 4.00pm
To take part go...

The latest in the series of  Adult Psychiatric Morbidity surveys was published on 29th September.  This national survey provides information on rates of treated and untreated mental illness.

Visit NHS...

The Mental Health in Further Education Network< and DfE Adult Education Mental Health Research projects< are offering a series of short webinars throughout October to celebrate World Mental Health Day 2016....

Click here< for news of Northern College's FAB2 Digital Resilience...

We are pleased to confirm that the Diversity Diary for 2016/17 is now available including daily equality reminders and guidance, information relating to health and wellbeing, mental health, The Prevent Duty, case studies,  the Common Inspection Framework (2015) and much more. 

 

...

Next week, from Wednesday 4th May to Friday, the 6th,  we are delivering three more lunchtime  'Spring to Equalities<' webinars that will give you a chance to hear from experts working across the education and learning sector. The webnars are:

...

The 'Spring to Equalities<' webinars are being booked fast so don't miss out on this chance to hear from experts working across the education and learning sector and gain a unique insight and solutions into some of the most prominent and important challenges it faces.

The series of free webinars includes:

  • ...

Find an hour to join Erica and John for our learning lunch today at 12.30 and you won't be disappointed. This fantastic duo have the practical experience to help you improve how you support learners with mentla health difficulties. 
Book now at http://bit.ly/1puC0G9<

Hackney Community College has been working in partnership with (and funded by)...

If you are a regular visitor to the Equalitiestoolkit website you'll have noticed that during March and April 2016, we are offering a series of informal lunchtime sessions online exploring findings and resources from the SFA-funded Equality...

Spring to Equalities: The Equality Act 5 years on<

Join us on Monday, 7 March for the opening event of our Spring to Equalities webinars series

The 2010 Equality Act has been part of our legislation for 5 years and our understanding of its contents has developed considerably since its inception.  In this webinar with which we launch the ...

Image of the Pride and Prejudice in Education report cover  Book your place now and join us on 8th of March< for a free webinar to hear about the...

A Spring to Equalities - webinar from the National Network of Equalities Networks (NNEN) and the Skills Funding Agency

Join us online on 11 March  from 12.30 - 13.45 for LGBTQI+...

Image of the flier advertising the Leading beyond the organisation – a Systems Leadership Approach courseThis one-day course, developed in partnership with the Education and Training...

Here's some really good news, from Yola at Ambitious about Autism: Screenshot of page 1 of the Succeeding at College dissemination event flyer

Gloucestershire college has been shortlisted for the

prestigious TES FE...

The ETF Excellence in Leadership, Management and Governance (ELMAG) portal offers skills development for leaders, managers and those involved in governance from across the Further Education and training sector.The portal was revamped last week and now includes several new opportunities, like Meeting the Challenge of Special Educational Needs.

If you want to radically improve the quality of the service and outcomes for young people and adults...

On Thursday 15 October 2015 at 9.30 am MHFEdefinition is pleased to bring you:

"I'd like to blog, but I don't know where to start: overcome your...

A one day course for staff working with young people with autism to support the transition from school to college. 18 dates across the country.

Audience

Further education college staff, including curriculum managers and learning support teams, sixth form college staff, secondary school special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and local authority transition leads.

In order to get the most out of this course, we recommend that...

The Staff Diversity Diary has proved a real hit for 4 years. We are pleased to bring you a new free electronic (PDF) 2015/16 edition<. Download your copy now month by month or all at once at: ...

Please join us for our third annual TeachDifferent conference, this year focusing on identities and diversity.  

From a blistering 'state of the nation' keynote to Thinking Walks in the gorgeous gardens, the day promises to be full of thinking, inspiration and innovation.  

If you're an educator or students - whatever your role - you are welcome and of course it's completely free thanks to our sponsors the Equality...

Based on the findings of the two year Finished at School Programme, this new guide provides, resources, case studies and a self-audit tool for colleges to use in their work supporting young people with autism and those with other disabilties make the move from school to college. Click this link to see the Finished at School guide<

Do you work with learners with autism in London or the South East?

 

Autism Education Trust (AET) post-16 training for teaching staff. 

 

Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 June 2015, central London

 

Price: £190

 

This London-based two-day course< has been specifically designed for...

This guidance is based on the simple principle that: You want people to access your provision and read your information and ‘people’ include deaf and disabled people and all we want to do with these guidelines is help you produce more accessible and inclusive documents.

We've draw on published accessibility good practice –where it helps. And (because of the sector’s role in adult literacy and numeracy) we have added...

Not sure how to manage increasing numbers of young people with mental health problems?...

Two key events in March 2015:

Image showing the front cover of the SFA/ECU equality and diversity good practice fund project summaries Want to find out what the 30 projects being funded through this year's Skills Funding Agency equality and diversity good practice...

Screenshot of the flyer advertising the Network for Back and Asian Professionals Diversity in Governance workshops (2015)

Are you passionate about education? Would you like to use your skills and experience to give something back? By becoming a governor you can make a...

We want to find out if there are differences in the perceptions and experiences of learners and staff who have different sexual orientations and gender identities.You can support this important research by going to http://www.cvent.com/d/r4qbx6< and telling us about your perceptions and experiences of sexual orientation and/or gender identity and by passing this link...

It's that time of year again when like it or not the office closes and work stops. That makes it the perfect time for us to thank you - the education and training providers who worked with us on #EDIFund, #RRCrowd and other projects this year. 

And what better way  can there be to say 'thank you' than by sharing with you this little seasonal gift< that I...

Access to Work: Disability scheme 'not reaching people'<

As reported on the BBC website: "substantial numbers of disabled people are missing out on government support to help them into work, MPs have said.

The government's Access to Work programme suffers from a lack of funding and publicity, the Work and Pensions Select Committee report found."

Further information can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/...

The Finished at School Programme is a Department for Education funded project led by Ambitious about Autism in partnership with the Association of Colleges and Nasen.

Over the past two years, we have been working to support young people with autism to continue their education beyond school and develop the skills and experience they need to lead fulfilling adult lives.

On 18 March 2015, we will be sharing our learning from the project and launching a good practice guide for...

Following the huge success of the Staff Diversity Diary< over the last three years, Alex Baghurst, who co-...

Today is Transgender...

Impact of changes to Learning Support in the post-19 sector<

Dear Colleagues

NIACE...

NUS LGBT and the Forum for Sexual Orientation and Gender...

Inter Faith Week begins today. There are loads of events up on the Inter-faith Week website: 

Respondents to the 2014 Resources Review (RRCrowd) Survey identified their top criteria for what makes a 'good' equality and diversity resource. Login to share your criteria with us and post them as a comment to this news item (or tweet your criteria using the hashtag #Equalitiesresources). 

...

Image of The Equalities Tagging Tool advertisement that went up on the equalitiestoolkit home page on 14/11/14

Next time you are on the equalitiestoolkit home page look left. You'll see an advert- link for The Equalities Tagging Tool (TETT) Open...

Dear Colleagues

Yesterday the OED (Outreach, Empowerment, and Diversity) Network launched new tools to help overcome barriers to learning.

Alistair Lockhart-Smith, NIACE...

You can find details of the new ECU...

This week's edition of Update< from the Skills Funding Agency contains advance notice that detils of its forthcoming Equality...

BIS commissioned survey of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) models and approaches<

Dear colleague,

NIACE...

Image showing a screenshot form the infographic of the IES evaluation of the Skills Funding Agency/LSIS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Partnership Funds 2010-2013

New Equality and Diversity Good Practice Fund (2014/15)<

The Skills Funding Agency (the Agency) has...

Acas has published new guidance on 'dress code and appearance in the workplace', which may be a useful practical #EqualitiesTLA <resource for many curriculum areas.  

Key points<

  • Employers must avoid...

Were you one of the 25 lucky winners of a hard copy of the 2014/15 Staff Diversity Diary when it was launched at the EDIF projects' dissemination event at Capel Manor  College on 9 July 2014<? if not,...

Fircroft College (see our Equality and Diversity as Functional Skills EDIF project<) is now advertising a full-time permanent programme manager (short courses) vacancy. Closing date: 12.9.14. For more information go to: http://...

I have created a page with the links to our videos but decided to add the lnks here as well so that more of you may access them..

We decided to have a signed and a non-signed version in order to make them clear and useful to our target audience.

I hope you enjoy watching them - everyone involved is pleased with the result.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TGvnh0I4Tc<

...

Then take a look at this exciting opportunity: We are pleased to announce ‘Workplace Wellbeing...

Want to promote staff wellbeing?

Interested in the new workplace wellbeing charter national award for England?

Then take a look at this exciting opportunity

We are pleased to announce ‘Workplace Wellbeing...

A range of documents designed to support colleges in their thinking about Equality...

Positive support for the Mid-Life Career Review in the Government Fuller Working Lives Framework launched by DWPdefinition today at: ...

Led by the Third Sector Implementation Board<, which was set up to provide strategic oversight and guidance for the future development of the sector’s contribution to learning and skills, the Third Sector Learning and Skills –The Way Forward on 24 June 2014, is a...

Osca is offering a limited number of free places for managers and leaders in the Further Education and Skills sector on an upcoming Engagement Masterclass training delivered by an award winning provider.
 
This training is funded by The Education and Training Foundation, who have been listening to the professional development needs of the managers and leaders in the Further Education and Skills sector.  As a result, we are delighted to announce that we have been invited...

The Leadership Conversation’s online brainstorm is entirely web-based and is completely anonymous. It is not an online questionnaire, but something much more engaging, interactive and thought-provoking, designed to gather your thoughts and observations. It’s different – so give it a go!

...

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE...

Ten women started a new course last Wednesday that contains all of these elements:

  • Developing group and teamwork communication skills
  • Developing personal confidence and self awareness
  • ...

Do you work in London?

Would you like the opportunity to be part of a pilot for a new Autism Education Trust course for post-16 education practitioners?

Ambitious about Autism and NIACE...

Youth volunteers Alice McKee and Michael Young have been named as Stonewall Young Campaigners of the Year 2014 for their work to improve the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. The annual Youth Awards saw Sir Ian McKellan presenting awards to individuals who have helped to promote equality across Britain.

21-year-old Michael Young a student at Newcastle College's School of English and Maths, was recognised for his commitment to highlighting the need for more work to...

I am not sure how I am going to survive two days online - but I have just registered for this free online conference that JiscTechDis are involved in running in June 2014. It is called ENABLE, and is the 2nd International...

To be sure of your place at one of the fantastic 3 free annual Skills Funding Agency/NIACE...

Review of the Impact of the EDIF...

Success Story – Angela New<

Angela with her portfolio

 

When I first came in to Tomorrow’s Women Wirral Centre, I was crying, as I had had my child taken away from me and I thought I was going to jail. My Probation Officer, Hazel, persuaded the courts that I could carry out my sentence through a conditional order and serve my...

Here's your hot off the press Spring 2014 equalites e-bulletin.

This e-bulletin is supplied to us in PDF format but if you need a different format let us know. Email [email protected]< along with the URL for this news item.

The age-discrimination guidance is a supplement to the existing Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations. It is intended to help businesses, public authorities, courts and others to understand the law in depth and to apply it in practice. Most provisions in the Equality...

I am a Deaf woman, who is working towards a degree in Social Work.  As part of my course, I have to complete a research study and I would appreciate your support in completing the survey and also getting the survey out there to as many people as you can.  It is the intension of my research work to obtain a more diverse view of social work interventions in domestic violence situations.  It will only take a few minutes of your time and is completely confidential!...

You may be aware that the 2014/15 funding regulations are changing for SFA funded provision and many existing qualification will no longer meet the funding criteria.

NCFE are redeveloping the Level 2 Award (500/8314/4) and Certificate (500/8342/9) in Equality...

It’s a pop-up - It's on from 31 March - 9 April 2014 - It's about your ideas - It’s live - It's something we are inviting you to make happen with us - It’s here for 10 days and then it's gone. 

Hopefully you've already noticed the temporary makeover on our equalitistoolkit home page and have been wondering...

Three hundred million people around the world celebrate NoRuz, the Persian Spring New Year, which marks the Spring Equinox. It’s the biggest festival of the year for millions from Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia to India and in the UK, celebrated with fire – leaping, religious prayers recited in front of fire and a countdown to the exact moment of the Spring Equinox.

Spring begins...

New resources added in bare essential today include the equalities monitoring data rationale and questions for  the work we have been doing to support The Education and Training Foundation Leadership, Management and Governance programme<

The questionnaire includes all 9 protected grounds plus...

Pleased to report good progress with project against planned activity across both competition hubs.

Cambs/Beds Hub

Competition 1 Soup Making. theme lead .Bedford Regional College. Competition date:  11th February 2014

Competition 2 Card Making. theme lead Huntingdon Regional College.  Competition date:  ...

Here's the Forum's latest newsletter (attached below). Highlights for me include:

  • A summary of the UNISON research (published in December 2013), showing how austerity cuts are affecting LGBT people and the services they use. Unsurprisingly, LGBT people individually were facing greater financial...

One of the  Education and Training Foundation's Equalities Pop-up Consultation Tour VW campervans 

Image of a retro VW campervan in blue                  ...

It can't be co-incidence that I keep having conversations that start with a question abotu one thing and and end with me saying,  "What you want is the Forum's 12 Steps to Advancing Sexual Orientation and Gender...

This exciting low cost event on March 31st is an opportunity to share progress and learning from the first year of Finished at School.Ambitious about Autism in partnership with the Association of Colleges and nasen is leading the DfEdefinition sponsored Finished at School...

We are pleased to bring you the latest opportunities in partnership with The FE...

Community Learning outreach projects<

Dear Colleagues

I have been contacted by Ilkim Erdost, principal of the Volkshochschule Ottakring, a school for adult education in the 16th district of Vienna and a member of the district council. Ilkim is looking to get in touch with outreach adult education programmes in the UK, in particular outreach community based projects in the UK which they would like to visit within the framework of the Erasmus plus Mobility programme for Adult...

The Leadership Conversation provides an exciting opportunity for providers from across the Education and Training sector to provide vital feedback on their views on leadership and how leadership skills should be developed. Critically, the outcomes from this project will inform the strategic plans of the Education and Training Foundation for supporting leadership improvement in the sector. It is essential therefore that we gather as much feedback as possible, from all...

Specialist teacher educators, interpreters and online technologists have used British Sign Language (BSL) to create innovative video resources to support a pre-service Award in Education and Training and an in-service Certificate in Education and Training. The resources are part of a research project funded by the former Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS...

NUS is featuring a trailblazer from LGBT history each week during February as part of LGBT History Month celebrations.
The...

NUS has a target of 100 uploads for their 'Where I pray' campaign photo upload. Tonight they'd reached 45 so i thought you might like to tell your leanrers/students about it and help them to reach 100 or more. 

"Some institutions have fantastic multi-functional facilities for students and staff to pray. Others provide unused rooms, such as lecture rooms, for groups of students to use when needed. But at some...

From NUS - Please make sure your students are aware of the NUS LGBT survey

...

Dissemination event  

Finished at School Programme  - What have we learnt so far?

 
Improving transition pathways for young people with autism to post-school learning and
training


31stMarch 2014 Holiday Inn Bloomsbury,  London


Ambitious about Autism...

CoolTan Arts (longstanding members of the NIACE...

As expected 2 new learners joined us this month - one of whom has now completed a job assessent through Mencap so only one more plan to finalise . Which means we have just met our target of 8 !

The feedback I  have had from learners so far is positive and I will add some of their comments to my next news item.

More good news is that two of our learners are starting their placements this week - both are really keen to develop their...

Canny Faces provide a series of well attended workshops last term. These workshops willl re start on Tuesday 27th January in the ESOL...

We are launching a College wide competition to create a Logo for our Canny Faces Project and hope to attract some new volunteers!

Here's the latest January 2014 edition of the FE...

We ran our first masterclass on 12th December to an audience of 26 of our Network members from Nottinghamshire.

The event was very well recieved and we have had a very positive response to our follow up survey.

As a result of this and the...

Good news - all of the work assessments are now complete, we have an admin worker joining the team on Monday, and 2 more learners starting with us in January.

We have also had our second board meeting - more details shortly.

3 December 2013, was the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. To mark the day, a small invited group of staff and learners met to launch two new workforce equality resources designed to break barriers and open doors for disabled staff to make our sector inclusive for all:

1. Effective Inclusive Practice - ...

Here's our December 2013 equality and diversity news bulletin<

You can let us have comments/questions/feedback by logging into the website and posting them as a comment to this news item. 

If you are not registered on this site and would like to receive our regular equality and diversity bulletin straight to...

Dear All

 

Girlguiding UK have released the findings of this year's Girls Attitudes survey. This major survey, now in its fifth year, canvasses the opinions of over 1,200 girls and young women aged 7 to 21, inside and outside guiding across the UK. The focus of this year's survey was on equality. You can access a copy of...

Safeguarding survey< - tell us how we can support you.

Closes 10pm, Friday 29 November 2013

It takes just 10 minutes. Responses will be reported anonymously; this means that it will not be possible to identify you or your organisation in our...


Article appeared in the latest edition of our College publication distributed to 57000 households in the area.  See page 4 of the attached for full publication.

Norton Radstock College is leading on a project to help people with disabilities find work. The initiative, which brings together a range of partners including Sirona, Curo and B&NES Council, is called the Helping Hand Project. The College is one of 41 projects...

St Fagans National History Museum Making History project, Consultation with Disabled People
Visionsense are an organisation of disabled people seeking the views of disabled people, disabled peoples groups, carers, family and associated groups and visitors on access and the future of Wales's most popular heritage attraction, the excellent St Fagans: National History Museum.

We want...

Our first Master Classdefinition in Lesson Planning is now confirmed for December 12th in central Nottingham. The event is...

Please find below your equality newsletter for December 2013. Feel free to circulate it far and wide.

In this issue:

  • The latest equality news
  • December and the equality calendar
  • Equality...

Natspec is being funded by the Education and Training Foundation to continue its work on supporting progression on non-accredited programmes and is now looking to recruit 45 ‘sector leaders’ – practitioners with relevant expertise –to develop the work in their own organisations and regionally.The main focus is on learners with learning difficulties and disabilities, but the approach can be applied to other learners too.  

The bulletin below outlines...

Dear all

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. You may want to read about it:

This might also be of interest:

  • ...

There's still time to respond to NIACE's call for information< on intensive English and Maths provision for unemployed adults. By intensive provision, we mean programmes which run for 12 or more hours per week.  Click here< to find out...

On 12th November our project board met for the first time.We clarified project details and agreed our individual roles. We also shared useful contacts. The board defined its role - to share knowledge and to keep the project "on track" -  including through regular updates.The next meeting will be 10th December where progress reports and new actions will be shared and agreed.

Enrolments are building. We now have 5 learners involved and others have shown interest.

Our...

 

Margo Lindsay and myself attended the equality and diversity...

Our aim is to have 8 learners involved in the project . We currently have 3 and others are interested.

One of our first tasks was to design information leaflets. This has been achieved and we have been busy emailing and distributing paper copies throughout Derby City.

...

At the College's Staff Development Day on 25th October 2013 our first cohort of staff , 20 in total, participated in anti homophobic training. This training will enable them to identify curricula and teaching practice which assumes heterosexuality. (Worksheet attached). Feedback from staff was encouraging demonstrating their willingness to address the issue as one of the equality and diversity protected characteristics. Comments included:-

“Gave me an insight into different...

There is a clear relationship between equality and diversity and safeguarding as they share many interrelated components, focused on providing a safe learning environment for all learners. It occurred to me that exploring how they fit together in policy and practice may be of interest to the EDIF...

CODA has brought language learning to disadvantaged groups of all kinds. It is a 1-year project involving 5 European institutions that starts from the assumption that all EU citizens, regardless of social status, disadvantage or disability, have a right to share in the vision of a united and multilingual Europe.

It builds on two previous successful initiatives ALLEGRO (2002-2005) and VIVACE (2006-2009) which explored ways of involving more adults and young...

Under the Radar – David R Ewens<

Dear Colleagues

Under the Radar is a novel that addresses vital subjects such as equality, diversity and inclusion but in the form of a detective/ adventure thriller - it combines excitement and pace with an important social message.

Further information<

For further information, including a summary of the plot, visit Amazon:...

40+ new projects funded by the Skills Funding Agency/NIACE...

We are pleased to launch for the first time videos and case studies from two projects that were part of the Skills Funding Agency Equality...

First in a new series of monthly webinars from the Healthy FE...

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's 'I had a dream...' speech we quietly launched this new equalitiestoolkit website< for education and training providers, at 7pm GMT on 28 August 2013.

Were you inspired by the anniversary celebrations to do more about equality and diversity this academic year? Would a bid to the new...